Editing Tiberian vocalization (section)

{{Short description|System of diacritics for the Hebrew Bible}}
{{more footnotes|date=April 2015}}
[[File:Aleppo Codex Joshua 1 1.jpg|thumb|300px|Closeup of Aleppo Codex, Joshua 1:1]]
The '''Tiberian vocalization''', '''Tiberian pointing''', or '''Tiberian niqqud''' ({{langx|he|{{Script/Hebrew|הַנִּקּוּד הַטְבֶרְיָנִי}}|hanniqquḏ haṭṭəḇeryāni}}) is a system of [[diacritic]]s (''[[niqqud]]'') devised by the [[Masoretes]] of [[Tiberias]] to add to the consonantal text of the [[Hebrew Bible]] to produce the [[Masoretic Text]].<ref>The portions of the Hebrew Bible in [[Biblical Aramaic]] use the same system of vocalization.</ref> The system soon became used to vocalize other Hebrew texts as well.

Tiberian vocalization marks vowels and stress, distinguishes consonant quality and length, and serves as punctuation. While the Tiberian system was devised for [[Tiberian Hebrew]], it has become the dominant system for vocalizing all forms of Hebrew. It has long since eclipsed the comparatively rudimentary [[Babylonian vocalization|Babylonian]] and [[Palestinian vocalization]] systems for writing [[Biblical Hebrew]].